Horsing Around - this Week’s Sporting Coverage comes from Epsom - Part 2 of 2

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Without doubt I am certain none of this will make any sense unless you have read Part 1 which you can find here:

http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/horsing-around-this-weeks-sporting-coverage-comes-from-epsom-part-1-of-2

And even then don’t be concerned if you are wondering why you are left in a state of utter bewilderment !!

• Lucky Horse Shoes - without doubt Luck has a major part to play in Share Investing and of course it can work both ways - Good and Bad. As with most things in life though, the expression “make your own Luck” certainly rings true here and without doubt I find that the harder I work the luckier I get (I am sure someone said that way before me). Despite this, I have no issue with Lucky Charms and if that is what helps your Horses run hard and fast then good luck to you !! (I myself have a strong belief in the Market Gods even though I am totally irreligious).
  
• Horses for Courses - many Top Owners try to have a Stable Block with pretty much the same types of Horses in it - all Thoroughbreds for example; and there are a few Owners right at the top who achieve this, such as Robbie ‘The GOAT‘* Burns. In practice this can be difficult for many Good Owners and a Farmyard full of some different types of Runners can work very well. You can have solid Shire Horse type Stocks and ones that are more of a Recovery Situation which have spent a while under the Vet’s close attention - no harm in this and for most Owners this is perhaps the best and most effective way to fill your Stables. All Stocks go through periods of being in Uptrends, Sideways, Downtrends, Sideways, Uptrends again etc. and in various mixes - so having Stocks at different stages doesn’t hurt and you can Feed them and Train them as appropriate to how they are Running for you and sometimes you sadly have to call in the Vet to despatch a faithful old Horse that is due for Horsey Heaven (This reminds me of something an ex-Girlfriend told me once about how she had mentioned to her 6 year old daughter that the family dog, Holly, had “gone to Heaven” and then a few months later when saying they were going on Holiday in Devon, her Daughter asked her “can we go and see Holly?”……)
  
• Young Horses - these are often the offspring of some previously successful Horses and in this case can be very sought after by New Owners. In the Stock world, these can be where previous Jockeys are involved who have brought on Winners in the past and have proven themselves. CAKE is a great example where Luke Johnson has ridden a lot of successful Thoroughbreds in the past although he has had the odd one or two put down - when dealing with the Animal Kingdom there are bound to be biological uncertainties !!  IPOs are very much the New Horses of the Stockmarket scene - it is of course essential to check the teeth properly and to get plenty of second opinions from Vets you have worked with before and other Owners who you trust and value the opinions of - they might want to buy into your New Horse as well - this is another great beauty of Shares - you can work in a Cartel with other Owners so you all benefit from the collective assessment of the Horse’s chances. You might be onto a Grand National Winner !!
  
• Over the Jumps - this is like when Markets get Choppy and Volatile - your Horse is not just galloping around a nice flat Racecourse but has to contend with various hurdles on the way. Generally speaking, these kinds of Races and Courses are best avoided and it’s a good time to just let your Horses keep doing their best getting round the Course but any decisions to feed them or pull them in for Veterinary attention etc. should not be taken lightly. Quite often you have really experienced Horses who have been running in such difficult conditions in the past and you can just leave them to it and perhaps watch the races on Channel 4 only occasionally when you are not hiding behind the sofa.
  
• Golden Horse Poo - from time to time your Horse will do a big steaming pile and this is not something to turn your nose up at because these are the Dividends of owning a Horse and you can use this hugely fertile stuff on your Roses, Horse Chestnuts or Prized Pumpkins etc. What you really want is a Special Dividend - these are really rare and like the Dung from a Unicorn. In the Farms run by the Top Owners, they use the Poo to fertilise Corn Crops so they have plenty of fresh Hay to feed to their Horses - this recycling of the Dumps is really profitable.
  
• Each Way Bet - in the Horse Racing World this means you have a bet on where you win whether your Horse comes home in First or Second place. In the Stock world, this is where you have a Hedged Position (or Portfolio) so that if the Markets rise or fall you can’t lose. This can work really well short term but over longer periods you want to be putting all your Money on the Horse’s nose.
  
• Accumulator Bet - in the Betting World these are when you set up a Bet which is made up of several individual Bets underneath which in effect roll up as you Win each one - and only if you get a losing bet does the Accumulator end. For Stocks, this is like when you back a Horse and it runs well and you bring it in and sell it to another Owner and you then buy another Horse which runs well for you which you sell and keep repeating this. Compounding Returns in this way is the key to making Money over the Long Term and is where we need to be. However, it is important not to flip your Horses too fast and in practice you might have to Sell a few Dog Meat specials so you can roll your Money into a harder Charger - all part of the game !!
  
• Dagenham Dogs - for many people Horse Racing is too much of an activity for Elites and they prefer to stick to the Dog Tracks. This can be profitable, but in many ways it is something I liken to AIM Junk Stocks. Viewed in this way, the FTSE100 is more like Horses at Ascot or Cheltenham. FTSE Small Caps are more like Uttoxeter or Chepstow.
  
• A Foal is born - sometimes one of your Stocks ‘gives birth’ to another Stock - this happened to me recently on ESUR where it got preggers and after many months GOCO popped out - delightful little Foal. Fortunately the pedigree of the Mother was in the GOCO genes and it has run very well even as a young ‘un.
  
• Horses can bite - sometimes you own a Horse that gets swallowed up by another Horse but you can become a part-owner of that larger Horse - this is like when a Stock has a Takeover but you get given Shares in the Stock that is doing the Takeover bid. In most cases, the bigger Horse eats your Horse and the Owner is so embarrassed by the sorry and unfortunate situation that he/she has to pay you Cash as compensation for the loss of your Horse. It is sad but quite often you get a very nice Compo payment and you make a nice Profit on the Horse (you might get paid 2000 guineas).
  
• Horseracing accessories - there are several Companies that deal in essential gear for attending the Races. For example, Pittards PTD does Leather stuff (saddles, whips, etc.); BOO does posh frocks for Ladies Day; FEVR does essential booze accompaniments for the partygoers; TSCO, MKS etc. can help with the Nosebag demands. 
  
• When a Runner gets lame - this is when you are still in the Race with your beast of burden but it needs time in the Stable to recover. Often I say a Stock needs a period in “Rehab” when something goes wrong - for the Equine Analogy read that as a period in the Stalls. At the time of writing this, earlier this morning QP. put out a Trading Update which was really positive - this is a great example of a Charger which had stumbled during the Race but had to have a period of rest and recuperation on the straw and now it is fully recovered and picking up speed to a decent Cantor as it gets back on the pace. At some point soon I will most likely take some Hay down to the Railings and give him a bit more feed to speed him up to a good Gallop. You gotta be really careful though and only give your Horse more Food when he really is fit and healthy again - if you overfeed him while he is still not recovered enough then it can be a visit to the Knackers Yard (since writing a draft of this blog, it turns out that other Owners are keen to get hold of QP. and I am probably too late to give him more Hay now.)
  
• Injecting your Horse with Steroids and other performance enhancers - this is like Debt Funding and Leverage - it can give a Horse an extra boost but like with a Company, if they overdo it then the Horse can have a coronary and collapse during the Race - sometimes this can be fatal and often it means you and other Owners will be asked to stump up for more Food and Vet Bills. In the Stockmarket Steeplechase, the slang for this is a ‘Rights Issue’ or ‘Placing’ (dirty profane words those and not for uttering when the Ladies in their elaborate Hats are about). These kinds of injections can give your Horse a short term rush of performance but after a few laps they can often burn out. Of course, on the flipside of that, if you don’t give your Horse the appropriate medicines and veterinary attention to keep him tip top, then he won’t run as strongly as the others (let’s face it, most of them are drugged up to the eyeballs). This is the case with Stocks also, having a Strong Balance Sheet with lots of lovely Cash is certainly desirable on Smaller Stocks but for larger Companies it is often missing a trick if they don’t have some leverage.
  
• What’s in a Name? - Some occasional punters just pick a Horse by its name - in this vein, I hear IGG is a great Horse and I know Top Trainer @BottyFisherBond has backed this Derby Winner.
  
• Trojan Horse - I am sure there is a belter of a Stockmarket analogy here but as of now I am unable to drag it out of Pandora’s Box. Since the early Drafts of this blog, I have perhaps stumbled over the idea that a Trojan Horse is when you make a screw up and your Primitive Caveman Fast-thinking, Brain tricks you into buying a cruddy Stock which is an attempt to mess up your Portfolio and lose you money. Your Slow-thinking, Rational, Brain needs to be on its guard to watch out for attempts to wheel in a Trojan Horse.
  

Conclusion
I’m sure there was a serous point to this Blog but I’ve forgotten what it was - must be all the Pimms and Gin laced with FEVR that’s done it.

You won’t believe how hard it has been to write Part 2; when I did Part 1I must have been in a right daft/silly mood which helped with my flow but on Part 2 I really had to work hard to make it even remotely as readable as Part 1 !! My top bit of advice is never start a blog !!

I don’t look at any of my Stocks/Trades as a One-off Buy and then a One-off Sell - to me a Stock I hold is more an ongoing continuum of ‘Events’ and during this time the Stock is still in the Race and I can add to my Position or reduce it or whatever and 95% of the time it is me who decides when the Race ends (the 5% which I don’t control is a rough guess to cover times when a Stock gets a Takeover or the thankfully rare circumstances where the Stock goes Bust or very near it and I am a forced Seller.) And of course while the Horse is running there is a good chance it will keep providing a sizeable and growing pile of manure for your Roses.

Opportunity is always around on a given Stock - of course it depends what stage it is at in a race and it is always good to be thinking about how much ‘Fodder’ you have given your Horse and if you should be giving it more or perhaps it is running away with a massive lead and you’re thinking it is a good idea to slow it down a little by lowering its calorie intake and ‘starving’ it a bit. This is all part of the monitoring we need to do and all the time we should be considering how the race is going and what tactical decisions we might make to help our Horse be a big winner.

My shenanigans with UTW, AA. and now I can add TCM to the list got me thinking about the totally off the wall ideas behind these Blogs (hey, after all that drama I needed to go tripping a bit to take my mind off it !!) and in line with this theme I think I can classify UTW as a young Stallion with 4 broken legs; AA. is a tired old Warhorse that is soon to be put out to grass (although it knows how to fight); and TCM is almost entirely comedic like a Pantomime Horse !!

Cheers, WD


PS. No Animals were harmed in the making of this Blog (although perhaps they were defamed a tad). 

On a slightly more serious note, if you are interested in Horse Racing and wish to exercise your ‘Gambling’ muscles on Nags rather than AIM Trash Stocks, check out this Website from @wayward_lad

http://waywardlad.blogspot.co.uk/


* GOAT - Greatest of All Time.